


it's a dare!

by third



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Canon Universe, Dare, Humor, M/M, Stupid Boys, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-17 21:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16103930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/third/pseuds/third
Summary: “I’ll accept the dare,” Donghyuck says, “but next time you have to listen to what I say no matter what. You better watch your back, Lee Jeno.”“You’re going to regret that later,” Renjun says, when Donghyuck is out of sight.Renjun is wrong. Jeno is regretting it already.





	it's a dare!

So, it might’ve been Jeno’s fault.

In his defence, he’s tired and hungry, and he doesn’t know why Donghyuck’s making a fuss about which car he wants to ride in on the way to the restaurant.

Renjun’s already sitting next to Jeno, and he looks dead tired too, arguing with Donghyuck who’s hovering by the car door. Donghyuck had spent the better half of their photoshoot daring Chenle and Jisung to do absurd things. Jeno had, intelligently, stayed out of it, watching from the side while he got his makeup done, but it’s the amalgamation of his fatigue and fierce hunger that has him jumping right into the centre of the ring. 

“Donghyuck,” Jeno says. When both Renjun and Donghyuck stop arguing and stare at him, he says, “I dare you to sit in the other car.”

The moment Jeno says it, he feels like an idiot. Then, Donghyuck quirks an eyebrow at Jeno and that feeling is replaced with the sudden urge to take everything back.

Donghyuck stares at him, studying. “I’ll accept the dare,” Donghyuck says, “but next time you have to listen to what I say no matter what. You better watch your back, Lee Jeno.” Donghyuck shuts the door behind him and heads to the other car. 

“You’re going to regret saying that later,” Renjun says, when Donghyuck is out of sight. 

Renjun is wrong. Jeno is regretting it already. 

 

 

Jeno had been on edge about what Donghyuck would dare him to do, but after two weeks and no retaliation, Jeno starts to think that maybe Donghyuck had forgotten about it.

It turns out to be too early of a victory.

Being an idol, you get to learn a few things over the years. It’s like a second sense to Jeno now, the feeling of being watched and noticed. On the way to buy some drinks from the convenience store, Jeno gets the ominous feeling running down his back.

“Do you feel that?” Jeno asks Donghyuck.

“Yep,” Donghyuck says. He’s still staring at his phone. “There’s a girl on your left. She’s going to come up to us in five, four, three, two—”

“Hi.” A girl apparates in front of them like a ghost. She hides her face behind her hand and glances shyly at them. “I’m so sorry to bother,” she says, “but I really like your music and I would love to get a picture with you. If you can’t that’s totally fine—”

“It’s fine,” Jeno says, smiling politely. “We can take one.” It isn’t really—company policy advises them not to—but the girl is cute and it sounds like it’s taking every single bit of her strength to talk to the two of them.

“Thank you so much,” she says. She fishes her phone out of her pocket and hands it to Jeno. Donghyuck stifles his laughter when she walks next to Donghyuck and poses.

It happens. Sometimes fans are bigger fans of just one of the members. Sometimes fans only _know_ one of the members. Still, it doesn’t stop Jeno’s face from flushing. 

“Give me one second,” Donghyuck says to the fan. He walks up to Jeno with a grin far too amused. He leans in close to Jeno and whispers, breath hot on Jeno’s cheek, “I dare you to take a picture of yourself instead.”

Trust Donghyuck to rub Jeno’s humiliation in. Jeno keeps a smile on his face as Donghyuck walks back to the fan and they decide on what pose to do. Jeno flips the front camera on and takes a picture of his flushed face. He’s never going to live this down. 

 

 

“Your face,” Donghyuck cackles when the girl is gone and the two of them are choosing drinks. 

The air from the refrigerator is cool. Jeno wants to stick his head in and freeze all the memories of his shame until they’re ice-cold and Jeno can smash them to pieces with a hammer. “Shut up,” Jeno says. He picks out a bottle of Calpis, shuts the fridge door because electricity shouldn’t be wasted, and pretends to read the nutrition label. “Whatever. You used up your dare. I’m embarrassed as hell. We’re even.”

“Oh,” Donghyuck says. “Are you giving up?”

Jeno turns to look at him. “I’m not _giving up_.” Jeno’s pride is at stake. “There’s nothing to give up. We’re even.”

“Sounds like something someone who’s giving up would say.”

Jeno doesn’t even bother to grace that with an answer. He takes out four more bottles and stomps to the cash register, ignoring Donghyuck’s laughter behind him. Donghyuck can buy the other two.

 

 

By the time they get back to the dorm from practice, the picture has circulated the internet. 

The fan has apparently learned who he was in the few hours since Jeno saw her, because she’s posted it on Twitter with the caption _ㅋㅋㅋ cutie jeno-yah took a selca when i asked for a photo with haechannie_.

The comments underneath are all variations of _so cute_ or _how funny ㅋㅋㅋ_. Jeno closes the app, opens up his KakaoTalk chat with Donghyuck. _THIS IS WAR_ , he sends. 

_ㅋㅋㅋ_ , Donghyuck messages back. _sure thing, cutie jeno-yah_

Donghyuck changes the chat picture to Jeno’s selca. _It’s on_ , Jeno thinks. _It’s on._

 

 

Jeno finds his opening when they’re going through interview prep for a variety show. It’s the usual questions and Jeno isn’t too fussed about it until he reads down the list and spots a certain one. If Jeno were in a cartoon, a light bulb would glow above his head. 

Donghyuck’s sitting on the couch, waiting for their cue to go on. Jeno slides into the space next to him, wraps an arm around Donghyuck’s shoulders and smiles. “So I heard that one of the questions they’re going to ask us today is about our ideal types.”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says, leaning back and getting comfortable, “I already have my neutral answer planned out. Should I say that height doesn’t matter to me?”

“Nah,” Jeno says. “You should describe me instead.”

Donghyuck stares at him. “Why would I do that?”

Jeno grins. “I dare you to.”

“I’m going to get so much shit from our manager.” 

Jeno shrugs. “Are you giving up then?”

“No way,” Donghyuck says immediately, “but if hyung asks me, it’s all your fault.”

 

 

Jeno expects a half-assed response from Donghyuck. Maybe Donghyuck will say his ideal type is someone who is the same age as him, or someone who is taller than him, or someone who has short hair. 

Jeno gets only one of those right. When the question gets thrown at Donghyuck, Donghyuck doesn’t even look flustered. He takes the question easily and says, “My ideal type is someone who has short hair.” It’s what Jeno expects but then Donghyuck looks at Jeno and stares the entire time he continues, “I like someone who has a good voice and can sing well, who has cute eye smiles, and who isn’t that funny. Someone who I can talk to whenever something’s wrong. My ideal type is someone like a best friend.”

The sincerity is a surprise. It’s sappy is what it is and Jeno would be a liar if he said it didn’t make him feel a bit giddy. He can't help the smile across his face, but he also can't look at Donghyuck for longer than he has to. There's a pause after Donghyuck finishes talking—the rest of the members staring at the two of them in disbelief—before the host graciously continues on to the next question.

For the rest of the interview, Jeno can’t look at Donghyuck in the eyes without feeling warm.

 

 

When they get offstage, Renjun rolls his eyes. “Wow,” Renjun says, bumping his shoulder into Jeno’s. “That wasn't obvious at all.”

“I don't know what you mean,” Jeno says, but he chases after Donghyuck when he sees Donghyuck walk into the changing room. The room is empty besides the two of them. Jeno closes the door behind him, and says, “I thought I said to describe me.”

Donghyuck isn't looking at him. He undoes the buttons of his shirt one by one. Jeno leans against the back wall and takes caution not to stare. “I did.” Donghyuck shrugs his shirt off, hangs it over the back of a chair. “Can you pass me my shirt?”

Jeno reaches to the rack of clothes next to him and takes Donghyuck’s shirt off the hanger. He reaches over and passes it to Donghyuck, careful not to jolt back when their fingers brush. “A good voice, someone who can sing well…” Jeno trails off, too embarrassed to say the rest.

The top of Donghyuck’s ears are pink. “I said what I said,” he says. “I like your voice.” He eyes Jeno and then smiles, with mischief. “Or are you fishing for compliments?”

“I’m not,” Jeno says, and then he books it. “I think someone's calling me,” he yells as he runs out of the room just as Donghyuck’s thumbs hook into the waistband of his pants.

 

 

An article pops up on Naver Celebrity, and reprimand steps in. It’s a fan-submitted gossip piece that gets buried under juicer news but still, it’s something that management wants to squish. Donghyuck gets a lecture from their manager, and Jeno gets something arguably worse: an awkward conversation with Mark Lee.

“Hey,” Mark says, knocking on the door frame to Jeno’s room, “can we talk?”

Jeno puts his phone down and then gestures to the chair across his bed. “Sure,” he says. “What's up?”

Mark grins and then turns the chair to sit on it backwards. He nearly falls off, but then straightens himself and smiles sheepishly at Jeno. “I know you and Donghyuck have that flirting thing going on?”

“Wait what,” Jeno says. “We don't have a flirting thing.”

Mark eyes him. “Okay,” he draws out. “If you say so.” Jeno has no doubt that Mark does not believe him one bit. “Well, you guys have that dare thing?”

Is it a question or a statement? Jeno doesn’t know, but he nods anyway.

“The managers told me to tell you guys to keep it down a bit.” Mark scratches at his ear. “You know, not do anything on shows.”

“Sure.” That puts a damper on half of Jeno’s plans. “Great.”

 

 

Jeno should’ve known that the new rule is not enough to stop Donghyuck’s quick wit.

Sitting on the floor of Donghyuck’s room, Jeno scrolls through his phone aimlessly, spending his off day wasting time. Donghyuck’s lying on his bed with his feet against the wall, head upside down right next to Jeno’s. Donghyuck sighs loudly. “Ah,” he says, “I wish I had some ice cream.”

“Then go get some.” There’s an article on Pann about Donghyuck’s ‘ideal type’ that Jeno’s saving to his phone. He doesn’t have time for Donghyuck’s simple worries.

“Doyoung-hyung has some in the fridge in his room.” The way Donghyuck says it makes Jeno look at him. “I dare you.”

“You’re daring me to get you an ice cream from Doyoung-hyung’s fridge?” Jeno needs confirmation. It sounds too good to be true.

“No,” Donghyuck says, a mischievous glint in his eye. “I dare you to get me the fridge.”

Jeno shouldn’t have asked. He really shouldn’t have. He should’ve accepted what he was offered and ran to get an ice cream for Donghyuck while he could’ve feigned ignorance. With a heart full of regret, Jeno sighs and asks, “Right now?”

Donghyuck nods. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Doyoung-hyung is in Jaehyun-hyung’s room right now.” Donghyuck grins. “And besides, you’re his favourite.”

Jeno dutifully gets up. Donghyuck stays where he’s lying on his bed. “You’re not going to come and watch?”

“Nope.” He smiles upside down at Jeno. “I’ll just wait here for my ice cream delivery. Be quick!”

 

 

Luckily, Doyoung’s room really _is_ empty. Jeno has the feeling that Donghyuck wouldn’t have let him off the hook even if Doyoung was sitting in the middle of the room.

The fridge is larger than he remembers it. Jeno dreads the trip to Donghyuck’s room, but thanks his past self for starting to work out. If Jeno’s lucky, he can install it and then escape into the refuge of his own dorm before the blame is placed on him. He’s halfway through unplugging it when his mother’s voice rings in the back of his mind. It’s something about refrigerators and explosions, which can’t possibly be right.

Jeno doesn’t know if he made it up, but like any Gen Z who needs an answer, he does the next logical course of action: he googles it. 

Five minutes later, after reading about three different websites with different instructions on how to move a refrigerator, Jeno thinks, _fuck it_ —he’s only taking it down the hall anyway. 

Jeno’s struggling to get it through the door when a voice stops him. “What are you doing?”

Jeno freezes. He looks past the fridge to where Doyoung is standing with his arms crossed and staring at Jeno disappointedly.

Donghyuck—the traitor—is standing behind Doyoung with his hands over his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter.

“Um,” Jeno says intelligently, “going for a walk?”

Doyoung stares at him. “With my fridge.”

Donghyuck starts laughing really loudly. Jeno wants to strangle him.

“Yes,” Jeno says instead.

Doyoung looks unimpressed.

 

 

In the end, Jeno has to put the fridge back exactly where it was, promise to refill it for a month, and sit through an hour of Doyoung looking at Jeno disappointedly as he scolds him.

Throughout the entire thing, Jeno plots his revenge. 

 

 

Despite his brainstorming, Jeno doesn't get a solid idea for the next dare until he's using his rare spare hours of the day after the SMTOWN Concert to shop with Jaemin in Shinsaibashi.

(All his other plans had been vetoed by Chenle and Jisung, who had only stared at Jeno in disappointment when he told them. 

“You're really living up to your name,” Jisung said, sipping the milkshake Jeno bought for him.

“No-Jaem Jeno,” Chenle added in, scoffing down the scone that also came from Jeno’s bank account. Ungrateful children.)

“Hey look at this,” Jaemin says. “Your new outfit.” 

Jaemin holds out the gaudiest shirt Jeno has ever seen. It’s ridiculous, it’s outrageous, Donghyuck would absolutely hate it. 

Jeno grins, finds Donghyuck’s size and takes one off the rack. He walks towards the cash register. “Wait,” Jaemin says, “are you actually buying it?” And then, “Oh wait, is this your weird flirting thing with Donghyuck?”

Jeno sputters. “It’s not a flirting thing! It’s a battle of our dignity. As men.”

Jaemin eyes him. “Right.” Disbelief drips from his voice. “I had nothing to do with this,” Jaemin continues, but when Jeno is short 1000 yen, Jaemin slips him the money at the counter.

 

 

When they get back to the hotel, Jeno beelines it to Donghyuck’s room.

“I come bearing gifts,” he says, with a flourish. Donghyuck just stares at him from where he’s playing on his Nintendo until Jeno pulls the shirt out of the bag. 

“What,” Donghyuck deadpans, “is that?”

“Your new airport fashion.” Jeno grins wide.

“No.” Donghyuck shakes his head. “No way.”

“I dare you.” Jeno looks at Donghyuck smugly. “Or are you giving up?”

Donghyuck walks across the room and snatches it out of Jeno’s hands. “I hate you, Lee Jeno.”

“Don’t forget the matching pants,” Jeno says, pulling out an equally terrible pair of pants that they found in another store.

“So much hate,” Donghyuck says, grabbing the pants too.

 

 

In what Jeno thinks is a last minute attempt to save himself, Donghyuck turns around right from where he’s about to exit the car door. “Mark-hyung said we weren’t allowed to do anything in public.”

“He said on shows,” Jeno says. “Good thing this isn’t a show.” He pushes Donghyuck out of the car.

 

 

 _FASHION ICON HAECHAN_ trends worldwide. The owners of the stores Jeno bought from both make Instagram accounts and write posts thanking Donghyuck when their stock sells out. 

Donghyuck screenshots the hashtag and physically goes to Jeno’s room to gloat even though they have a perfectly functioning KakaoTalk chat. 

“Did you really just travel to this dorm to show me this?” Jeno asks, from where he’s lying down on his bed.

Donghyuck ignores him in favour of climbing onto the bed. He manoeuvres Jeno’s arm so that he can rest his head there and shows him the screenshots. “Looks like your plan backfired.” Donghyuck smiles, flicking through multiple positive fan comments and Naver articles. 

Jeno laughs. “Did it?” With his free hand, he pulls up a photo of Donghyuck that he saved in his _Haechandeul_ folder and waves it in front of Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck immediately flinches away and closes his eyes. Jeno pinches Donghyuck’s side until he looks, but Donghyuck just rolls off the bed.

Somehow that leads to Jeno chasing Donghyuck around the room with his phone. “I hate you so much,” Donghyuck says, as he jumps over Jeno’s bed. “Just wait for the next one.”

 

 

A short practice break with Jaemin gets disrupted when Donghyuck bursts into the practice studio with the energy of a man on a mission. “Guess what I heard,” Donghyuck says, smile wide. “Yangyang got caught with his girlfriend. Taeyong-hyung had to give him The Talk.”

Jaemin whistles from next to Jeno. “May he rest in peace.” He clasps his hands together, looks up towards the white ceiling, and closes his eyes.

Jeno shakes his head in pity. Then, when he realises that Donghyuck is staring at him with a look he distrusts, Jeno starts to think there’s more to this than Donghyuck sharing amusing but unfortunate news. Jeno ignores him, pretending to look busy by making a playlist on his phone. 

“Jeno,” Donghyuck says when Jeno refuses to give him attention. “Cutie Jeno-yah, it’s time for your dare.”

Jeno gulps and gently hopes Donghyuck isn’t going to say what Jeno thinks he is.

“I dare you to talk to Taeyong-hyung,” Donghyuck says and then pauses, savouring the moment of suspense like the attention-seeker he is. “I think you need some _education_ as well.”

Jeno groans. Nope, Donghyuck said it.

“Oh shit,” Jaemin says. “That’s going to be uncomfortable.” He grins, and Jeno will never let Jaemin live down this betrayal. “I can’t wait to watch.”

 

 

Taeyong's sitting with Johnny in the seventh floor lobby when Jeno finds him. Taeyong looks worse for wear, resting with his eyes closed while Johnny talks to him. Jeno hangs around the corner near the staircase, hidden from view until Donghyuck pushes him out. He stumbles trying to get his balance, and both Johnny and Taeyong glance back at the noise.

“Jeno,” Taeyong says, sitting up, “what are you doing here?”

Jeno walks closer to them and Donghyuck’s snickers decrease in volume with each step. “Actually,” Jeno says, tentatively, “I wanted to talk to you.” He takes a seat across from them, sinks his fingers into the edge of the leather cushion and grips it tight before he continues, “I heard you spoke to Yangyang earlier.” Jeno gulps, and forces the next words through, “I thought maybe I needed it too.”

Johnny hides his face in his hands for a moment before standing up abruptly. “Oh no,” Johnny says, with the vigour and acting skills that he showed on _Hot &Young Seoul Trip_. “I just remembered I have something extremely urgent to attend to. I must go.” 

Before he leaves, but after his brilliant performance that has Jeno completely convinced, Johnny pats Jeno on the shoulder and gives him a comforting smile that somehow makes it all worse. Taeyong watches Johnny leave with the intensity of a man dehydrated in the middle of the desert, watching his only source of water drip into the sand in front of him. 

“You—” Taeyong clears his throat, turning back to Jeno. He tries to sound less incredulous, Jeno gives him points for that. “You want me to give you The Talk?”

Jeno swallows. “Yes,” he grits out. In his peripheral vision, Jeno can see Donghyuck’s head and half of his body peeking out from the corner. He has his phone out and is probably updating the rest of the group in real time.

Taeyong clears his throat again. Maybe he does need water. “Does this have anything to do with Donghyuck?”

“What?” Jeno asks, attention jumping back to Taeyong. “No way.”

Taeyong’s voice becomes softer, and Jeno’s stomach fills with dread. “You know I can speak to the both of you. I’m not judging.” Before Jeno can even _start_ to tell Taeyong he’s got it all wrong, Taeyong turns around and gestures for Donghyuck to come over. Leader senses aren’t a myth; they must have tipped him off. Donghyuck walks over and sits down next to Jeno. He shoots Jeno a betrayed look, but Jeno shrugs. If Jeno’s going down, might as well take Donghyuck down with him.

“It’s probably easier if I talk to you both at once,” Taeyong says, tired but warm, and Jeno suddenly feels so bad for him. He wonders whether when they gave him the leader title, they told him he’d have to deal with this. Guidelines to being an SM boy group leader:

  1. Prepare to be the speaker at all events.
  2. Learn conflict management.
  3. Expect to teach the younger members about the birds and the bees.



“Hyung, no,” Donghyuck says, violently waving his arms in front of himself as if to ward away this entire experience. “It was a dare. We _really_ don’t need it. It’s fine.”

Donghyuck stands up, and Jeno, seeing an escape, stands up too. Taeyong just clears his throat and tells them both to sit down. Slowly, without option, Jeno sits down and Donghyuck follows suit. 

 

 

It’s a mortifying hour for the three of them. Jeno stares at the floor half the time and listens as Donghyuck chimes in to Taeyong’s explanations which only 1) makes it more uncomfortable and 2) does nothing to change Taeyong’s opinion that something is going on between them. 

Jaemin comes up to watch halfway, hiding by the staircase and taking creeper photos of them that he immediately sends to Jeno’s phone. Jeno sees the previews pop up on screen: Jeno with his face in his hands, both of them visibly not looking at each other, Donghyuck looking like he wants to sink into the chair. 

Mark and Yukhei walk by, which is embarrassing enough but then _Red Velvet_ pass by the floor and Jeno can tell Jaemin lets them know what’s happening by the way Yeri grins and mouths _fighting_. 

_This is it_ , Jeno thinks, as Taeyong google searches images to show them. The most embarrassing moment of Jeno’s life and it happens on the seventh floor of the SM Building. How will Jeno ever go to work again?

 

 

After the trauma that was the last dare, Jeno and Donghyuck nonverbally decide on a truce. 

Jeno strums the guitar lazily, leaning back on the sofa of the recording studio, waiting for the others to come back with food. Next to him, Donghyuck is texting furiously on his phone. “Jiyeon-noona just asked me to send her pictures to post on our Twitter.” Donghyuck holds up Jeno’s infamous selca up on his phone and laughs. “Should I send this?”

“I don’t know,” Jeno says. He puts the guitar down, reaches for his own phone and opens a photo of Donghyuck from the airport. “Should I send this?”

Donghyuck lunges for Jeno with all his strength. Jeno laughs and keeps the phone away from Donghyuck's hand, holding it up and out of reach. Donghyuck elbows Jeno’s stomach and knocks the wind out of him. When Jeno looks down, he realises that Donghyuck is lying on top of him, his face just a hair’s breadth away from Jeno’s own. He stares at the mole on Donghyuck’s left cheek.

“Hey,” Donghyuck says, quietly. He licks his lips and Jeno’s traitorous eyes follow the movement. “I dare you to kiss me.”

Jeno shakes his head. For a second, Donghyuck’s face falls before Jeno says, “It’s my turn. I dare you to kiss me.”

Jeno doesn’t even know who leans in first. The only thing he notices is the warmth of Donghyuck’s lips on his. 

Slow clapping fills the room. It feels like a dream until Jeno realises that no, it’s actually happening, and he turns to see who it is. Unashamed, Donghyuck just rests his head on Jeno’s chest and grins at the intruders. 

“Beautiful,” Renjun says, still clapping.

“Not a flirting thing,” Jaemin mocks. 

Jeno laughs, and Donghyuck joins him, reaching out to thread their fingers together. 

Mark just shakes his head, then asks, hopefully, “Does that mean we're done with all the dares?”

Jeno and Donghyuck glance at each other. “No way,” they say in unison.

 

 

(For two whole weeks, Jeno and Donghyuck take turns daring each other for kisses.

It only stops when they stumble into the practice studio and find the rest of the Dream members standing in a semi-circle waiting for them. All their arms are crossed. Chenle and Jisung are holding a banner that reads _INTERVENTION_ in big red writing. 

“This is an intervention,” Renjun says. 

“Stop the dares,” Jaemin says.

“ _Please_ ,” Mark begs.)

**Author's Note:**

> obviously canon au bc haechan’s airport fashion has always been a++ 
> 
> thank you for reading ♡ i’m on [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/thursday) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/falserecall) if you want to chat~


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